A milestone has been reached for residents in the Liberties as Dublin City Council passed a motion paving the way for a public park on Bridgefoot Street.

The community held a protest outside City Hall at 3pm on Monday, May 30 to remind councillors that they have held a long campaign to have an area on Bridgefoot Street converted into a park.

Locals have been campaigning for nearly two years to have the derelict site of about two and a half acres transformed into a public green area.

The silent protest on Monday outside City Hall

And late on Wednesday night the council passed the motion, which acknowledged the need for "open space for sports & recreation in the South Inner City equating to only 16% of the recommended minimum provision."

People Before Profit Councillor, Tina MacVeigh - who has also been campaigning for Bridgefoot Park - said this was "a huge victory for the Bridgefoot Street Park Campaign"

Residents of the Liberties area have had a frustrating battle with the council in recent months after promises for the development seemed to go by the wayside.

Earlier this year the council supported the idea of Bridgefoot Park and arranged park design workshops which were meant to be held in May.

But just before the first meeting was set to go ahead on May 4, the council cancelled it without reason - saying the workshops have been "postponed without further notice".

It wasn't until the following day that they were told the Housing Committee also had interest in the site, which according to Cllr. MacVeigh meant the site could be sold to a private investor or be used for council housing.

'Save our park' sign outside the derelict zone on Bridgefoot St.

Earlier in May, Tina MacVeigh told Dublin Live: "The community was up-in-arms, they were livid, they really thought that it was going to go ahead but, yet again, they were left high and dry.

"It's already an extremely densely populated area already and there's no green public cultural amenity."

The Councillor added: "We've been denied what we would consider a basic community right."

The policies from the Devlopment Plan Meeting 2016 will come into effect in November.